Lawsuit Seeks Public Records Related to Deal to Send People to Foreign Prisons

Washington D.C. – Today, Democracy Forward filed suit against the Department of Justice, Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security to compel the production of documents related to a Trump-Vance administration agreement with El Salvador that has allowed hundreds of people to be sent from the United States to be held in jails and prisons in El Salvador.

In early February 2025, the administration announced that, following a trip to El Salvador by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the United States would enter an agreement with El Salvador to send people detained in the United States — including potentially even United States citizens — to El Salvador jails and prisons. On March 15, 2025, the administration sent more than 200 people to El Salvador, many of them under an assertion that they were subject to the Alien Enemies Act, where they have been held in government custody, including in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.

“It should terrify every American to see the Trump administration sending people to another country to be detained without any due process. The American people deserve to know exactly how this agreement was reached. We will continue our work to protect the rights of everyone who could be preyed upon by the administration through this agreement,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward.

Democracy Forward has submitted a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the three agencies after the agreement was announced, seeking draft copies of the agreement, any legal analysis of the proposal, and communications surrounding the agreement. Though all three agencies confirmed receipt of the requests, none of the three has produced the requested information in the legally required time.

Concerns about the public’s ability to obtain the public records of key Administration leaders through FOIA were raised in late March, when reporting from The Atlantic revealed that Trump administration officials, including Secretary Rubio, have been using auto-deleting messaging applications to communicate regarding government business, including regarding sensitive foreign affairs matters. Shortly after this report, Democracy Forward sent letters to the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House, the State Department, and other agencies demanding that public records be lawfully preserved. Democracy Forward additionally requested leadership messaging application communications, including those of Secretary Rubio.

The case is Democracy Forward Foundation v Department of Justice et al. Democracy Forward Senior Oversight Counsel Daniel McGrath and Legal Director Robin Thurston represent Democracy Forward in this case.

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Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org.